bkoganbing The Borgia Stick is a film that will really make you paranoid. Just who and how many people and groups could be surveilling any and all of us, including our own government. The title is a code phrase for use on the telephone.Don Murray and Inger Stevens are as a whitebread and All American a couple as you will find. They've got the whole suburban American dream existence other than the kids. But it's all a sham and their employer frowns on kids. In fact part of their employment stipulates no romantic involvement.They work for 'the company' the latest term for mafia, the syndicate which is now going into new forms of racketeering. They're buying into legitimate businesses and not just to launder money.But some indiscretion on Murray's part plus the fact that when two attractive people are thrown together there's a certain inevitable chemistry. These two had former lives and we see a really graphic depiction of what Stevens came from. The company has some really ambitious plans. In many ways The Borgia Stick anticipates the age of greed and Trump.Murray and Stevens get some fine support from such familiar folks in the cast like Kathleen Maguire, Sorrell Booke, Fritz Weaver, John Randolph, and Barry Nelson. Playwright Marc Connelly has a small part as one of the company men and he has a great scene with Stevens.One of the first made for TV films, The Borgia Stick holds up well after over 50 years.

drystyx THE BORGIA STICK is best described in terms of "style" of film instead of genre. I think "genre" tells us only half of what we look for in terms of what film we would want to see.The genre here is loosely "suspense", but also "romance", and more "drama". It is a slow paced film that is tough to watch with my sort of attention deficit problem. To say much more would be sort of a spoiler, because the essence of the story is the drama throughout.However, that's because it is of the style of "important" film. Some films and songs are "important", such as "Matewan" in film, or "Us and Them" in song. Some are "larger than life, such as the Lord of the Rings films and songs like "Mr. Bojangles", making ordinary people into larger than life characters. There are other categories, but these two are the most inspired as a rule.This falls under the "important" category. Don Murray was an up and comer of the era, and is largely forgotten now, but his films were among the best. However, being "important", they would step on the wrong toes, the toes of the control freaks who needed to suppress these sort of movies in favor of those that glorify control freaks.The drama here is the movie, and it is slow paced, so be warned about that, but it is also great drama, and an "important" story.

palice99 I was a young teenager when this movie came out and it was so magnificent that years later I named my pet horse Borgia Stick. When Borgia was born, I tried to find a poster of the movie to put on her birth announcement. I found a poster that was done in French, but not in English. I would love to see this movie again and have tried and tried to order it without success. This movie kept me at the edge of my seat! Don Murray and Inger Stevens were award winning actors to me. If anyone hears of this movie coming out, that would make my day. When I have mentioned the movie to my friends, no one remembers it. I am so happy to see so many people who are of my age group that enjoyed it!

gbrumburgh Tom and Eve Harrison seem to be living the good life. Nice home, picket fence, trendy life style, sporty friends. However, its not at all what it appears. In reality, their life together is a sham. Tom and Eve are covers for a crime syndicate and their "marriage" a mere front for the criminal activities therein. By day, Tom goes off to "work" donning disguises and wheeling-and-dealing syndicate money while Eve sets up a responsible household, caters to her "husband", takes part in civic activities and sees to it they blend into the unsuspecting community. Living together but ultimately lonely, separate lives and not knowing a thing about each others' past as per syndicate code, a wrench is thrown into the proceedings when they discover that they are deeply in love and want to leave the syndicate to lead a "normal" existence together. The syndicate has other plans.Don Murray and Inger Stevens are perfect in their roles of two pawns trapped in a much bigger chess game. The virile Murray, in particular, shows a natural fortitude for this type of edgy, clean-cut anti-hero. Usually wasted as a frivolous love interest, the gorgeous, honey-voiced Stevens gets the fleeting chance to display her dramatic talents especially as their sedentary lives begin to unravel.Durable Barry Nelson acquits himself well here as the next-door-undercover cop whose onto their charade while Fritz Weaver offers smooth, cultivated menace as a syndicate leader. Along the way you'll spot a number of familiar TV faces in minor, pre-stardom roles, including Conrad "Diff'rent Strokes" Bain, Ralph "The Waltons" Waite and Sorrell "Dukes of Hazzard" Booke.The movie is appropriately tense throughout and there are a number of interesting plot turns and twists to keep the cat-and-mouse proceedings moving as our couple desperately try to elude both the police and the syndicate. One eerie moment occurs in a funeral parlor where Murray and Stevens are laid out. The fact that Miss Stevens died a suicide only three years later offers a sad, peculiar foreshadowing for this lovely and tragic leading lady.A most adroit and intriguing time-filler.